Sen. Blackburn Gets Shitty Because Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Attended An Awards Show Where ICE Was Criticized

I don’t understand sycophancy. Never have. I don’t know what it gets you in the long run other than a reputation for subservience. That’s worth nearly nothing in the open market. The only people who will hire you are people most people would never want to work for.

And yet, that is pretty much the entirety of the GOP under Trump: a massive collection of doormats the current president won’t even remember stepping on moments later. Sucking up to a goldfish brain like Trump makes you a fool, rather than the savvy pol you imagine yourself to be.

Welcome to the dom side of the sub/dom equation, Senator Marsha Blackburn. While she’s most famous here for trying to turn the internet into whatever the current iteration of the GOP wishes it to be (at least here at Techdirt), she’s stepped out of her comfort zone recently to publicly complain about a Supreme Court justice who attended an awards show where multiple people publicly criticized Trump’s anti-migrant actions.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) called for an investigation Thursday into Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson for attending the Grammy Awards, where various artists criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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“Americans deserve a Supreme Court that is impartial and above political influence,” Blackburn wrote on social platform X. “When a Justice participates in such a highly politicized event, it raises ethical questions. We need an investigation into Justice Jackson’s ability to remain impartial.”

First things fucking last, Justice Jackson was not a presenter, nor was she a “participant” in any of the ICE criticism delivered by Grammy-nominated artists like Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish, and Justin Vernon. She was also not involved in any way with the production of the Grammy Awards ceremony, further removing her from anything that might be deemed “impartial.”

But beyond any of that is the fact that Justice Jackson had a perfectly legitimate, non-political reason to be there:

Jackson was nominated in the Best Audio Book, Narration and Storytelling Recording category for her memoir “Lovely One.” 

Jackson didn’t win (she lost to the Dalai Lama which, if you’re going to lose, is probably a loss you’ll never complain about publicly) but she was nominated. That alone gave her a reason to be there. The anti-ICE content may have been personally enjoyable, but she wasn’t there to soak up the stuff being said by others.

Not that it matters to the performative doormats currently employed as GOP politicians. Sen. Blackburn immediately started banging away on her keyboard and decided to take her disgruntled Grammy Awards forum comments to the next level by sending them off to Chief Justice John Roberts:

I write today regarding recent reporting about Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s attendance at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday, February 1, and the ethical questions raised by her attendance at such a highly politicized event. For the following
reasons, I urge you to conduct a thorough investigation into Justice Jackson’s attendance at this event and whether her presence at such an event complies with the obligation that a Supreme Court justice “act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.”

While it is by no means unheard of or unusual for a Supreme Court justice to attend a public function, very rarely—if ever—have justices of our nation’s highest Court been present at an event at which attendees have amplified such far-left rhetoric. Many of the attendees wore lapel pins that read “ICE OUT,” an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) adage. One Grammy winner that evening opened his acceptance speech by stating, “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ‘ICE out,’” which was received with thunderous applause by the crowd. Another award recipient that evening noted in her acceptance speech that “No one is illegal on stolen land,” going on to say that “we need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting . . . And f*** ICE, that’s all I’m gonna say.” These statements were just two of many polarized, highly charged anti-law enforcement sentiments from that evening. It is important to note that Justice Jackson was present in the audience throughout the event.

Wow. Harsh words from someone who couldn’t be bothered to speak up while Justice Clarence Thomas received millions of dollars’ worth of gifts from right-wing benefactors over the past two decades. She was oddly quiet when it was revealed Justice Thomas’s wife was pushing election conspiracy theories. Truly an unexpected amount of yelling from someone who had nothing to say when Justice Alito’s wife was flying pro-Trump flags at Alito’s home.

Oh. Wait. Blackburn has something to say about both of those things in this letter to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court:

Unlike these meritless claims against Justice Alito and Justice Thomas, there are serious questions regarding Justice Jackson’s participation in such a brazenly political, anti-law enforcement event and her ability to remain an impartial member of the Supreme Court.

It was a Grammy Awards ceremony, not an anti-ICE protest. That people had negative things to say about ICE is completely expected, given how many people are opposed to how this administration is handling immigration enforcement. Blackburn absolutely knows she’s comparing apples to precision-machined aftermarket car parts. But like everyone else in this despicable political party, she doesn’t care and she knows it’s going to cause at least a small percentage of the converted to pretend to be offended on her behalf.

I assume John Roberts knows this as well. Let’s hope he’ll just roll his eyes and go back to binge-watching the kind of television I assume he enjoys: the no-one-asked-for-this 2023 reboot of Night Court.